Marketing, advertising & media intelligence

Air New Zealand has created an expectation that its safety videos won't be boring. But travellers can only handle seeing a fake plastic fish bouncing around in Bear Grylls' backpack, Lord of the Rings gags, or a lycra-clad maniac so many times before the novelty wears off. So Air New Zealand and True have launched another new—but old—safety video starring ex-Golden Girl Betty White and a cast of wrinklies.

Safety Old School Style, shot by 8com's Josh Frizzell, is the airline’s first safety video filmed outside of New Zealand and it's set at the fictional ‘Second Wind Retirement Resort’ in the United States. And, as per usual, there's plenty of pratfalling, some innuendo and a few groaners interspersed among the safety information.

American actor Gavin MacLeod, famous for his roles as Captain Stubing on The Love Boat and White's former co-star on the Mary Tyler Moore Show, makes a cameo appearance while a cast of fun-loving retirees, including actor Jimmy Weldon, AKA the voice of Yakky Doodle duck in the Yogi Bear Show, take audiences through the safety briefing.

In a release, White says she had been exploring opportunities to work with Air New Zealand for some time.

“Air New Zealand has a global reputation for creating unique in-flight safety videos. When the opportunity came up to be involved in this project, I couldn’t say no. We had a lot of fun on set and I think we’ve shown that it doesn’t matter what age you are, it’s important to live life to the full."

Air New Zealand head of global brand development Jodi Williams says White is the ideal partner for the airline’s latest safety video offering.

“Air New Zealand’s brand is all about liberating from the ordinary and our safety videos have proven a great way to showcase our unique personality to audiences of all ages around the world. In Betty we found the perfect partner. She is renowned for being a little bit cheeky and with a career spanning 74 years, who better to learn survival tips from than the award-winning show business veteran? As a small airline at the bottom of the world, we have to think outside the square when it comes to driving brand awareness and conveying important safety messages to our millions of customers. Partnering with influencers like Betty has proven an effective way of doing this."

Collectively the airline’s safety videos have clocked up more than 25 million views online and have featured in coverage by global media outlets, such as CNN, BBC and the New York Times. Its most recent video starring Bear Grylls earned 2.5 million views on its official channel, plus hundreds of thousands more elsewhere.

To celebrate the launch of the new clip, the airline is giving online viewers the chance to win the trip to either Palm Springs, California or Queenstown, where winners will be forced to bath the residents of various retirement homes*. To enter, viewers need to share their story of how they are living life to the full at www.airnewzealand.com/safetyoldschool

If we find you doing these things, your comments will be edited without recourse and you may be asked to go away and reconsider your actions.
We respect the right to free speech and anonymous comments. Don’t abuse the privilege.

On Monday, Whittaker’s launched its latest novelty chocolate-lolly mash up with a chocolatey answer to retro bakesale treat coconut ice. The Coconut Ice Surprise chocolate has a twist though, 20c from each block goes to Plunket – a charity which New Zealanders agree is a worthy cause. However, to relate the chocolate to the charity, Whittaker's has built the campaign around baby gender reveal parties, causing a backlash from the public who argue gender norms have expanded beyond blue for boys and pink for girls.

Genius From Elsewhere

1

With over 10,000 fires occuring in South Korea residential homes every year, Samsung Fire & Marine Insurance has created a flower vase that doubles as a throwable fire extinguisher. The hope is it will raise awareness to the public safety issue of home fire safety.

2

Advertisers have stopped buying ads on YouTube after their ads appeared on children's videos where pedophiles had infiltrated the comment section.The New York Times investigates the comments.

3

The internet has been up in arms about a supposed 'Anti-LGBT' emoji, featuring a rainbow flag alongside the "no" symbol. However, according to Time, the emoji causing offence is actually "an unfortunate implementation of the standards that govern how text is displayed on our device".

4

This year, Super Bowl audiences were treated to a 45-second video of Andy Warhol eating a Burger King Whopper. It was certainly a campaign unlike any before, but did it work? Adweek takes a look.

5

As of 1 March, Queenslanders will be able to include one of five emojis alongside their licence places. The options—the laughing-crying face, the winking face, the sunglasses face, the heart-eyed face, or the classic smiley face—are courtesy of Personalised Plates Queensland.

Gold Sponsors

Silver Sponsors

Why we like it: Infomercial-style ads take us right back to the glorious days of old when we were sick – but not too sick – home from school and got the sought-after opportunity to watch daytime TV. There was literally nothing greater in an eight-year-old's life. So for that reason, these ads get a big tick from us. There's humour, and, despite what often happens when radio hosts venture into a visual format, it doesn't miss the mark.

Who's it for: House of Travel by the in-house team

Why we like it: Who doesn't love when brands bring back a break-out star from one of their earlier campaigns? To be completely honest, we didn't recognise Lucy on first glance, but after a quick trip down memory lane, we placed her as Miss Lucy from that singing and dancing retro campaign House of Travel launched more than a decade ago. We like the continuity of this ad and watching a man choke on his drink after a snapback from a woman doesn't hurt either.

Who's it for: Joblist by Badger Communications

Why we like it: Sonia is a dead-set hero. We are introduced to her glamorous, visor-wearing face peering out from behind a freshly-levelled hedge and the next thing we know she's no ordinary arborist. We watch Sonia as she looks into that shrub's soul and reveals the schnauzer-shaped masterpiece of her own creation. We never knew we needed someone with Sonia's skill set in our lives, but now we know we do. Thank you Sonia for showing us the light.